Jennifer asks how we became gun nuts. I don't think I am a gun nut.
I'm a freedom nut.
I'm one of those people whose minds changed about a lot of things after 9/11. That event caused a reappraisal of a lot of old, comfortable ways of thinking: the value of the technocratic elite state, the truthfulness of the media, and the position of the state and its citizens. In each of these, I abandoned the admiration for the centralized for the admiration of devolved authority. In this, I was really returning home to the values of the 1960s.
Trust the people.
9/11 showed the bankruptcy of the state, laying bare its incompetence to provide basic security for the people of this land. This realization cast a cold light on a lot of the old arguments that I had kind of skimmed past before:
"Guns are dangerous." So are cars. Lots more people die in car accidents than in shooting accidents.
"You need a car. You don't need a gun." You don't need a boat, either. Boats are dangerous, too. Per capita accident rates are a lot higher in recreational boating than in recreational shooting.
"This isn't about accidents. Look at the murder rate." Yeah, and you think that the State will protect you there? Fail.
From there, I found myself following some of the gun blogs, most notably Kim du Toit's. What resonated there was the love of the history of firearms, especially the history of self-reliance empowered by common ownership of firearms.
And so, I see this not as a technical appreciation (although there's certainly some of that), but a moral one. Owning a gun is a moral statement, that the People have been - and remain - not just trustworthy, but the foundation of the Republic.
I see opposition to private gun ownership as an affront to the People. What, are they not to be trusted? Am I not to be trusted? If so, then the Republic is built upon a foundation of sand.
And if so, who then can we trust with the sole possession of the tools of power? The same elite that failed so spectacularly in 9/11? It is to laugh.
None of that requires much in the way of gun nuttery. Freedom nuttery - yeah, it's full to the brim.
Put me down as a nut, too.
ReplyDeleteHere's the summation from my answer to the question (Part IV):
ReplyDeleteIf you think America is moribund and there is no hope, find an active gun club. Go to a Garand Match, a 3-Gun Match, or an Appleseed shoot. Talk to the people you meet. You're going to meet honest, friendly, patriotic Americans. We aren't nuts of any type, gun or otherwise. We're people with a sense of history, honor, and integrity.
(raising hand) Ok, I'm a nut too.
ReplyDeleteNow, let's make kitchen knives illegal, since people are killed with those too.
And swimming pools. They kill hundreds of children every year.
Cigarettes too. And alcohol, 'cuz if nobody gets drunk, then nobody can drive drunk and kill someone.
And electricity! Let's make electricity illegal! Know how many folks get killed thru electric shock each year?
(I could go on, but you'd think I was some kind of liberal jackwagon running for national elective office...
Interesting approach, and I agree Freedom Nut! :-)
ReplyDeleteLook, conservatives:
ReplyDeleteGun ownership is tied to owning real property and being a responsible member of the governing class. If you do NOT own and manage an estate, if you can, in dangerous times, simply pack up your tools, supplies, and run away, if you have no home or land to defend, then you don't need and shouldn't have a gun. Similarly, if you are not trained to use arms, and do not have either the badge of office from the government or at least the coat-or-arms of a trained and gentled member of the warrior / ruling class, then you should no more have a gun than you should be allowed to vote. You have no stake in the government, you have no land to defend, you have no right to a gun. Landless proles. Bow to your betters and do as you're told.
Actually,and interestingly, the first internationale declared the aims of socialism were four: an armed militia, (right to bear arms) universal manhood sufferage (the right to vote) the six day work week (freedom to observe the Sabbath) and declaration of a holiday to celebrate Labor -- May Day.The anniversay of the US Haymarket Riots. In short, 19th century international demanded the world catch up to already-implemented US standards.
Odd, that.
So it is Land Defense and not Self Defense. Got it. Good thing I own land and a gun, then anyone coming along to kill my land - well I can just shoot them in the middle of their land.
ReplyDeleteTwo to the yard, one to the flower garden.
I miss Kim's blog. His was the first "gun" (and freedom) blog that I stumbled upon on the web long ago. He's part of the reason I started my own blog.
ReplyDeleteAnd I didn't become a gun nut. I was born one. I'm a rural Texas boy and we start shooting shortly after our 'lil baby eyes develop enough to focus on the front sight :)